Chip's 1989 Favorite

Chip Miller Has An Extensive Collection Of Race Cars. See Why He Likes This One Best.

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Anyone who knows anything about Chip Miller is aware that he loves Corvettesand has owned quite a few of them over the years. You have to know the Carlisle Productions co-owner a little better, though, to know that hes also a racing fanatic. His personal collection includes nine Corvette racers, five of them Corvette Challenge cars.

Chip got hooked on Corvettes when he was just barely a teenager, and owned his first (a 60) by the time he was 19. His love of Corvettes is probably a major factor in the success of the annual Corvettes at Carlisle event, which has been a sellout these past couple of years.

Chip indulges a competitive streak on the trackand he doesnt just bring up the rear, either. In the Oct. 97 issue of CF we reported his success with his No. 7 Shawn Hendricks Corvette Challenge race car at Sebring that year. He tells us, though, that the No. 17 Challenge car featured here is his favorite. While its not my most pristine car, I find I can take it out at speed. If I wreck it, it can be fixed. Its like a driver, he told us. A historic race car to run with no stress attached. Wow.

This 89 has quite a history, too. In the 89 Corvette Challenge series, it went into the last race, at St. Petersburg, Florida, in Fourth Place for the championship. It won that race, after a pit stop and restarting dead last. It finished in Third Place in that series, bouncing the No. 7 Shawn Hendricks car from Third to Fourth. Chip has since retired the No. 7 car from vintage racing, and runs only No. 17.

Chips other Corvette Challenge race cars include the winner of that 89 series, the No. 3 Bill Cooper car; the 88 No. 33 car driven by Mark Dismore (it won the inaugural race at Dallas); and an 89 Challenge car that has never been raced. He refers to the No. 33 and the No. 17 cars as Bookends: No. 33 won the first race of the series, and No. 17 won the last.